Spousal Support

August 8, 2007

The obligation of support is an implicit term of the marriage relationship; there is a general duty between spouses to support one another. Support is broadly defined as a source or means of living, and includes all such means of living as would enable one to live in the degree of comfort suitable to his or her station in life. California Family Law Practice and Procedure, Matthew Bender.

California Family Code section 4320 lists the considerations a court must take into account when dealing with the awarding spousal support. A common misconception, now made clear by case law, is that the court may just list the factors that would substantiate a support award without going into further detail. In In re Geraci, the Court of Appeals stated, “...the trial judge must both recognize and apply each applicable statutory factor in setting spousal support. Failure to do so is reversible error.” In re Geraci, 144 Cal.App.4th 1278 (2006). This case has set the precedent that the court must actually consider the listed factors, and they must consider all of them. They do not have discretion to ignore any relevant circumstance enumerated in the statute.

It is important to remember, whether asking for support or defending against it, that the court will carefully apply each of the factors within section 4320. They may have broad discretion, but as pointed out in Geraci, the “court may not be arbitrary; it must exercise its discretion along legal lines, taking into consideration the applicable circumstances of the parties set forth in the statute, especially, reasonable needs and their financial abilities.” id. In order to avoid reversal in the future, a trial court will have to provide insight into their reasoning. Therefore, the more support provided by each party to sustain the statutory factors, the more convinced a court will be to either award or refrain from awarding spousal support to said party.